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10/27/2007: "Parasites act like single organism"

That view has been receding under the weight of results that suggest that bacteria can act as a multicellular collective, organizing biofilms and identifying the number of fellow species-members through quorum-sensing signaling molecules. A paper in Science takes this sort of behavior to the next level, suggesting that bacteria can coordinate cellular suicide.

So, not only do bacteria engage in cell suicide, but they do so on the basis of signals from their fellow bacteria.it all sounds suspiciously like a multicellular organism, as the authors themselves note. The logic behind it also seems very similar to that which explains altruistic behavior in multicellular animals. In a dense, rapidly growing culture, most of the bacteria would be expected to be genetically related. When a source of stress, such as a virus or antibiotic, starts harming cells, the most efficient way to preserve their shared inheritance may be for some of the cells to sacrifice themselves.

[ Sounds a lot like how human populations interact. But wait, the free will myth is our founding precept... OMG we'll have to go into denial, because denial's where the money's at. ]

http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2007/10/26/bacteria-engage-in-altruistic-suicide